Not The Only One - A Winter Soldier Story

Chapter 20

June 27, 2016

     I woke up for the day around 3 in the morning best I could tell.

     Bucky quit faking asleep somewhere around 4:30.

     Steve rose with the sun again even though he had been awake for about 45 minutes beforehand. I wondered if getting up at sunrise was his regular routine.

     After spending a few minutes in the restroom, Steve headed into the kitchen and began pulling some things out. Bucky got up and helped Steve.

     "Do you think she likes eggs and bacon?" asked Steve.

     Bucky's reply was, "I don't know. Mayb-"

     He was cut off by a loud clatter which made me flinch.

     "She's still asleep, dumbass! Be more quiet!" Bucky scolded Steve in a hoarse whisper.

     Steve hissed back, "I didn't mean to drop the damn frying pan, Buck!"

     Feeling guilty for pretending to be asleep while the two men were trying to be quiet because of me, I got up and went straight to the bathroom. I did not need to do anything in there except wash my face and brush my hair, but I spent several moments by myself getting ready mentally to face Steve, Bucky, and the day ahead of me.

     When I finally emerged, the sound and smell of sizzling bacon greeted me.

     Steve smiled warmly at me. "Good morning!"

     "Morning, Steve," I answered. "Morning, Bucky."

     "Morning, Doll."

     "How'd you sleep?" Steve asked as he tended to the cooking strips of meat.

     "Alright," I lied.

     Bucky inquired, "Are you feeling any better?"

     I told him 'yeah' even though I was not entirely sure what I was feeling.

     "Anything I can do to help?" I offered, wanting to avoid any more questions the pair might have for me.

     Steve thought for a moment. "You can grab the orange juice out of the fridge and some cups out of that bag."

     I soon had the desired items on the small kitchen island.

     "The bacon is done. Eggs will be ready in a few minutes," Steve informed us.

     Soon all three of us had a large steaming paper plate of bacon and eggs set before us along with a plastic fork and orange juice in a plastic cup.

     "So what else do I need to learn about?" I asked casually after finishing my first bite of breakfast.

     Steve started to say something, but Bucky cut him off and turned to me. "Doll, you don't have to do this."

     I put on what I hoped was a brave smile and said, "It's okay, Bucky. I can handle it. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."

     Steve told me, "After the Battle of New York, I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect people."

     "And I thought that was what I was doing until this one mission where Fury gave Natasha a secondary mission and lied to me."

     "When I confronted him about it, he showed me Project Insight. It was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s response to the Battle of New York and consisted of three Helicarriers which were synced to a network of targeting satellites. The whole idea was to neutralize threats before they even happened."